NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... le presented an example of altering the balance of legislative power in times of conflict. The Governor of Mississippi refused to allow James Meredith to enroll at the University of Mississippi and to integrate this public university, ignoring the orders of President Kennedy. He claimed that the state legislatures, and not the federal government, have control over state universities. In refusing to acknowledge the orders of the President, the Governor of Mississippi altered the legislative in the sense that he placed his office and the state legislature above the chief executive in this conflict.
Locke would argue that the governor's claim to power above the orders of the federal government was illegitimate and altered the balance of legislative power, justifying resistance. He would support the use of the armed National Guard by President Kennedy to restore order and to destroy the illegitimate claims made by the Governor of Mississippi. This change in the balance of power shows Locke's theoretical support of the civil rights movement, but it would not produce his central argument for supporting the civil disobedience of the movement. The crux of Locke's support of the civil rights movement is the second condition: that citizens can dissolve an unlawful government if it acts contrary to the trust of the people.
This breach of trust occurs when the government violates the natural rights of its people (412). Locke says that a magistrate who destroys the property of his constituents and attempts to enslave them under his arbitrary power places himself in the state of war and forfeits his legitimate power. In this state of war, the constituents no longer have an obligation to obey the magistrate, and they can defend themselves from any unlawful intrusion into their natural rights (412). Locke states: "People are absolved from obedience, when illegal attempts are made upon their liberties and properties, and may oppose the unlawful violence, when [magistrates] invade their properties contrary to the trust put in them" (416 - 417). The magistrate has violated the trust of the citizens because he chooses not to honor his obligation to protect their life, liberty, and property. According to Locke, unlawful force that violates natural rights justifies government resistance (413).
The civil rights movement is a practical application of this second condition of Locke's theory. The "Jim Crow" laws, which attempted to subordinate and to oppress African Americans in society, are an example of the unlawful intrusion into natural rights. These laws broke the trust between African Americans and the government because they failed to protect liberty and to uphold equality. Moreover, these unjust laws were paradoxical in the sense that segregationists attempted to justify them. For example, the Supreme Court ruling in Please vs. Ferguson stated that segregation was constitutional under the premise of "separate but equal. " Nevertheless, segregating education did not prove to be equal because the African American schools were often poorly funded and could not provide the same education as most white schools.
These attempts to justify segregation did not eliminate the unlawful subjugation of African American citizens. According to the crux of Locke's argument, the "Jim Crow" laws do not have legitimate authority by reason of this breach of trust. Locke would support the resistance to such laws on the grounds that these laws are contrary to the trust of the African Americans and violate their natural rights. Despite this right to resist unjust government practices, Locke limits the cases in which a political revolution may occur.
He states that small errors-such as "little mismanagement in public affairs, " mistakes made by the ruler, and many "wrong and inconvenient" laws-do not justify the overthrow of a government. Locke argues that the citizens must tolerate these errors "without mutiny or murmur" (415). However, extreme injustices, suffered over an extended period of time, justify a revolution, according to Locke. He says that these long-term grievances create a society that is worse than the state of nature, in which no legitimate political bonds exist. Thus, the citizens have the right to construct a new political system that restores the trust between the people and the government (415).
The African Americans of the civil rights movement are an example of the long-term struggles and grievances that justify resistance in Locke's argument. For over five hundred years, they faced political oppression and enslavement. The government dehumanized the African Americans, referring to them as property rather than as human beings. This political oppression and enslavement excluded them from the Declaration of Independence's claim that "all men are created equal. " Moreover, the "Jim Crow" laws continued to subjugate the African Americans one hundred years after the abolition of slavery. According to Locke's theory, this long-term and deep-rooted subordination of the African Americans justifies resistance to illegitimate domination.
The African Americans' right to resist any further oppression or subjugation forms the grounds for Locke's theoretical support of the civil rights movement. How does an oppressed person, like the African Americans, respond to illegitimate domination and the breach of trust? Locke answers that he responds with armed resistance. He states that those "who may resist, must be allowed to strike" (421). The breach of trust reduces the citizen and the magistrate into a state of war, which cancels the reverence, respect, and superiority of the magistrate's position. In this primitive state, the citizen has the right to defend himself by all means necessary, including the use of armed resistance (422).
Locke says that the oppressed citizen may respond in this fashion because his liberty and property are at stake. Failure to arm himself against this unlawful force may deprive him of his independence (425). Locke's support of armed resistance suggests that he would support the militant civil rights organizations, such as the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers were not a separatist organization-they did not believe that the African American community should separate from the white establishment-but they did advocate armed resistance to state institutions that unjustly persecuted African Americans. For example, they wanted the African Americans to take up arms in order to defend themselves from police brutality and to protect their communities. Locke would support the Black Panthers because they used armed resistance in order to protect their natural rights from unlawful intrusion.
The nonviolent disobedience that constituted the civil rights movement certainly did not take up arms, like the Black Panthers, in its resistance to racial inequality; however, the movement offered an active resistance to unlawful authority. The March on Washington, political rallies, and sit-ins are examples of the active, yet peaceful, resistance to racial segregation. While Locke does not specifically express his opinion on nonviolent resistance, he supports any means possible to oppose an unjust government (425). Therefore, he would support the nonviolent disobedience that constituted the civil rights movement based on its opposition to the illegitimate authority of the "Jim Crow" laws.
Locke would support armed and active methods to resist unlawful authority and the violation of natural rights. In the Second Treatise, Locke clearly develops his theory on the resistance to government. He would support the civil rights movement and the African Americans' right to defend themselves from the illegitimate authority of segregation laws. Ironically, Locke's argument is a double-edged sword-it is conservative in one sense and radical in the other. The limitations that Locke puts on opposing a government make his argument conservative because he realizes that dissolving a government is uncommon and often unlikely. He points out that people are by nature politically passive and unwilling to challenge a legislative body.
However, his theory is radical in the sense that it allows oppressed citizens to resist unjust laws. On the grounds of protecting natural rights, Locke would support the civil rights movement in its resistance to "Jim Crow" laws. His theoretical support of this movement shows that the right to resist is radical but necessary for the African Americans to defend their natural rights against unjust intrusion. Bibliography:
Free research essays on topics related to: jim crow laws, state of war, liberty and property, african americans, civil rights movement
Research essay sample on John Locke And Civil Rights Movement
